The 2014 European Women's Handball Championship was the eleventh continental tournament for women's national teams, organized by the

European Handball Federation The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for European handball. Founded on 17 November 1991, it is made of 50 member federations and two associated federations (England and Scotland), and is headquartered in Vienna, Au ...

. The second jointly hosted edition in the competition's history took place in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

from 7 to 21 December 2014.

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

won their sixth title after beating

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

28–25 in the final.

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

defeated

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

25–23 to capture the bronze medal. Norway's victory ensured their qualification for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. However, they later won the 2015 World Women's Handball Championship, vacating the European champion Olympic berth which fell to Spain as the runner-up. The two next-best placed teams, Sweden and Montenegro, earned spots in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments.

Host selection

Initially there were two applicants for the tournament,

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, with none of them having the experience of organizing a continental event before. However, both candidates withdrew their offers later, thus the host nation could not be selected on the 10th Ordinary EHF Congress between 24 and 25 September 2010 as it was planned. Instead, the European Handball Federation re-launched the bidding process. As a result, six federations (Croatia, Hungary, Iceland, Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey) showed intention to host the championship. Until the final deadline of 28 January 2011, EHF received three bids from four federations: * / (joint bid) * * After a thorough analysis, Slovakia was excluded from the race first, as they failed to ensure a minimum of four arenas that meet the strict criteria for the European Championship. The EHF Executive Committee decided between the two remaining aspirants on its meeting on 9 April 2011, awarding the right to host the 11th Women's EHF European Handball Championship to Hungary and Croatia.

Venues

Qualification

Qualified teams

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year.

Seeding

The draw was held on 19 June 2014 at 13:00 local time in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Squads

Referees

12 referee pairs were selected:

Preliminary round

The playing schedule was released on 4 June 2014.Match schedule
/ref> ''All times are local (

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).''

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Main round

''All times are local (

).''

Group I

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Group II

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Knockout stage

Bracket

''All times are local (

).''

Semifinals

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Fifth place game

Third place game

Final

Final ranking

Note: As Norway later qualified for the olympics as World Champions, the qualification slot went to the runner up instead and Montenegro qualified for the qualification tournament instead of Spain.

Awards

The all-star team and awards were announced on 21 December 2014.

All-Star Team

*Goalkeeper: *Right wing: *Right back: *Centre back: *Left back: *Left wing: *Pivot:

Other awards

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

: *Best Defensive Player:

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Source
SportResult.com

Top goalkeepers

Source
SportResult.com

References

External links

*
Eurohandball.com
{{European championships in 2014

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

European Women's Handball Championship European Women's Handball Championship European Women's Handball Championship 2014 European Women's Handball Championship 2014 European Women's Handball Championship Women's handball in Hungary Women's handball in Croatia December 2014 sports events in Europe International sports competitions in Budapest 2010s in Budapest Sport in Győr Sport in Debrecen Sport in Osijek Sport in Varaždin Sports competitions in Zagreb 2010s in Zagreb